


Keraunophobia

by CynicalRainbows



Category: Six - Marlow/Moss
Genre: Comfort, Fluff, Thunderstorms
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-05
Updated: 2020-02-05
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:07:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22577551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CynicalRainbows/pseuds/CynicalRainbows
Summary: Prompt from tumblr: Anne being afraid of thunder and Anna comforting Anne.
Kudos: 74





	Keraunophobia

Anna had always prided herself on being very, very good at entertaining herself. As much as she liked company, she didn’t need people with her to have a good time- she could watch movies, eat at restaurants and go out without anyone with her. Sometimes she picked up people on the way and sometimes she didn’t- the point was, she was very much self sufficient.

Which didn’t explain why she found herself feeling utterly bored one evening.

It wasn’t even just any evening, it was her evening off- something she looked forward to, as much for the chance to have the house to herself for a night as for anything else.

Not that she was entirely by herself- Anne was home too, laid up with a nasty cold that kept threatening to turn into something worse and she had called in sick at Cathy and Aragon’s combined persuasion (Cathy almost sitting on top of Anne to prevent her from getting up to get ready, while Aragon made the call to the theatre herself.)

She’d been left with strict instructions not to even approach Anne’s door without good reason Which she sort of understood- it wasn;t like Anne needed much encouragement to leave her sickbed- but then again, it wasn’t as if she couldn’t be trusted, she  _ agreed  _ that Anne needed to rest and it wasn’t as if she was just waiting for the queens to leave to lure Anne out of bed and into a pillow fight or something.

(The time with Kitty completely didn’t count. If anything, the pillow fight had cheered the girl up enough to actually acquiesce to spending another few days in bed, as per the doctors orders. That had been different.)

Still- checking that Anne had enough water and paracetamol was a good reason for disturbing her, surely? A totally unselfish reason. (And if Anne happened to need some distraction while she was checking on her...well, it wasn’t like she was going to refuse her. She wasn’t a monster.)

‘Anne?’

She tapped quietly at first, and then a bit louder. The storm outside had been getting louder for the past hour- she wondered if Anne had managed to stay asleep for it, or if she’d taken advantage of the noise to get up and do something more interesting, with the plan to use the ‘couldn’t sleep’ excuse if Jane or Aragon caught her out of bed.

Anna smiled to herself as she eased the door open, half expecting to see Anne with her switch in hand or at her easel.

Instead, the room was dark: through the dimness, Anna could just about make out the small figure curled up under the duvet, her back to the room.

  
  


She was just closing the door behind her- as quietly as she could, so as not to wake the obviously still-asleep queen, when a muffled sob gave her pause.

She stopped, her hand on the doorknob, wondering if she’d imagined it. A lull in the noise outside allowed her to hear more clearly- a very distinct sniffling, that was definitely not cold-related.

‘Anne?’

The noise stopped and she could see the figure freeze under the duvet- obviously the storm had also worked to drown out the noise of the door opening.

She came fully into the room, making her way to the side of the bed, kneeling down and reaching out to touch what she figured to be Anne’s shoulder.

‘Anne? What’s the matter?’

She felt her flinch slightly at the touch and tried not to feel hurt- she and Anne were usually so easy together.

‘-I’m fine, you can go back to bed’

‘It’s only 9pm Anne’

There was a silence- she wasn’t quite sure where to go from there. She’d had practise in coaxing Cathy into opening up more, but Anne was usually relatively open about how she was feeling, sometimes too much so.

‘Are you feeling worse?’

‘I’m really ok’

If it wasn’t for the fact that Anne’s voice broke on the last word, Anna might have been more convinced.

‘You’re really not.’

‘Please just go-’

Anne’s voice was very small but it hit Anna hard- she suddenly felt bad for pushing herself on Anne when she clearly wanted space. It wasn’t exactly surprising- they had their own share of trauma, they all dealt with it in different ways.

‘Ok.’

She stood up from the bed.

‘I just want you to know that I’m here for you if you need me ok? But you don’t have to talk about it and you’re allowed to have space if you want it. I love you.’

Leaning down, she pressed a kiss onto the upper part of the duvet and turned to go, an extra loud crash of thunder actually making her jump a little in spite of herself (she REALLY hoped it wasn’t affecting the show).

As she pulled the door open though, she heard movement behind her: she turned to see Anne sitting up in bed, the duvet puddled around her, her face red and hot and tearstained.

‘It’s- so stupid-’ She swiped roughly at her cheek with the back of her hand, her eyes on the carpet.

‘What is?’ Hurriedly, she resumed her place by the bed and reached out to rub gently up and down Anne’s shoulders. ‘I promise, grief is-’

Anne didn’t look comforted- if anything, she shrunk even further into herself, her cheeks flushing a bit, and mumbled something.

‘What?’

Again, her answer was unintelligible, even as Anna leant in.

‘Sorry?’

‘I don’t like storms, ok!’ Anne eventually looked up, half defiant, half teary and met Anna’s bewildered look. ‘I know it’s pathetic and I know it’s stupid and I know- I just know I’m being ridiculous ok? Just-’ Her scowl wavered and another tear slid down her cheek. ‘It’s really loud and being on my own makes it worse and-’

Anna was taken aback for a moment, having been expecting the revelation of some deepset trauma or PTSD flashback, not a simple fear of thunderstoms. Still, it was a relief too- she had to admit, she’d have had no idea how to best support Anne through something more serious, whereas this-

Unfortunately, her lack of response obviously had given Anne the wrong impression- pulling the duvet back up around herself, she curled back up on her side, facing the wall. Anna could hear her sniffling, even over the noise of the thunder.

‘Anne, no-’

‘It’s FINE, I know I’m being ridiculous-’ Her voice was muffled by the duvet. ‘Just go back to your room and you can make fun of me all you want with the others-’

‘Anne, no-’ Anna felt incredibly guilty- she really hadn’t intended to make things so much worse. ‘I promise, I don’t think it’s stupid-’

‘Of course you do- it is’ Anne curled up tighter.’ You don’t need to pity me, I’m fine-’

The anger in the words was slightly offset by the fact that they were being said through impossible-to-disguise tears and Anna’s heart broke a bit.

Climbing up off the floor, she settled herself onto the bed, wrapping her arms around the duvet-covered figure, pressing herself as close as she could to Anne’s back. She stiffened at Anna’s touch, but didn’t pull away either.

‘Anne, I promise I don’t think it’s stupid. I promise I’d never judge you for being scared of something- not ever, no matter what it was. I’m sorry I didn’t react right away, I was just thinking that I was glad it was something I could help with for a change.’

There was no response.

‘You’re always so amazing with me and… I feel like I never really thank you properly. Honestly, it sucks for you...but I was sort of glad I’d be able to repay you for breaking that guy's nose last week. Not that something like that can ever be repaid.’

There was a long pause.

‘Well… he shouldn’t have been an idiot….’ Anne’s voice was still watery but the fact that she was even replying made Anna’s heart lift and she tightened her arms around her.

‘Still- most people would have just said I should brush it off.’

‘He upset you- he ruined your evening-’ There was still a tinge of indignation in Anne’s voice.

‘No- he tried to ruin my evening. YOU completely saved it.’ Anna leant closer to Anne’s ear. ‘His face when you went for him- it just made my night babes-’

There was a pause and then Anne rolled over, turning herself to face Anna.

‘He did look stupid when he started freaking out over the blood getting on his tshirt didn’t he?’

Anna did a very fair imitation of a Liverpool accent. ‘This is Gucci, you stupid bitch!’

Anne gave a watery chuck and Anna pulled her closer, sitting up against the headboard and pulling Anne to lie almost on top of her, her head tucked under her chin.

‘I’m sorry I didn’t come in earlier-’

‘It’s ok- you didn’t know-’

Anne sniffed and Anna handed her a handful of tissues from the nightstand.

‘Still- I sort of like to think I have a sixth sense for these things-’

‘You usually do. You sort of did tonight-’

Anna shrugged. ‘Meh, I mostly was hoping you’d be awake so we could have a chat, I was getting bored out there on my own-’

‘Oh’ Anne tucked her head down, scrubbing at her red eyes and attempting a faux-light tone. ‘Sorry- bet you wish you’d just stuck to Netflix-’ 

‘No.’ Anna didn’t try to banter back, she just held her tighter. ‘I’m really glad you’re letting me be here.’

‘I’m glad you're here too.’ Anne’s voice was quiet. ‘Thanks….for not laughing. And staying.’

Anytime babes.’ Anna pressed a kiss to the top of Anne’s head and smiled as she felt her lean into it, so much more at ease than she had been earlier. ‘Any time.’


End file.
